Young Adults, Anti-Depressants, and Talk Therapy

Here's the link to a thought-provoking Wall Street Journal article about young adults who have been taking anti-depression medications for much of their lives, and the possible harm it causes to adolescent and young adult development, including the evolution and strengthening of a young person's sense of personality, self-awareness, and confidence in their own ability to understand and manage their emotions.  The article is a vote of confidence for the value of talk therapy. 

The Medication Generation. 
"Many young people today have now spent most of their lives on antidepressants. Have the drugs made them 'emotionally illiterate'?"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303649504577493112618709108.html

Read about Katherine Sharpe's book, Coming of Age on Zoloft: How Antidepressants Cheered Us Up, Let Us Down, and Changed Who We Are, on the Good Reads page of this blog. 

Self-Care Tools for Transitions

Transitions challenge us on all levels—physical, mental, emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual. You might feel physically fatigued, unusually energized, or alternating between the two. Your thoughts may be in overdrive, or you might feel mentally stalled. Many feelings are likely to surface, including depression, sadness, loss, disappointment, fear, anxiety, anger, excitement, joy and hope. Your relationships might feel “off.” On a spiritual level, you might find yourself questioning your spiritual beliefs.

I’d like to provide some tools that can help you maintain or improve your mental health when going through any transition--a relationship change; a job or career change; beginning or graduating from college; going through a life-stage transition, such as entering young adulthood or midlife. Focus on what you find helpful and intriguing. Experiment with those tools that feel foreign to you. Modify the tools to suit your preferences. I think you’ll find they are interrelated and support each other and, most important, you.

Click here to read about the tools.